Richard Eyre’s Almeida theatre production of Henrik Ibsen’s Ghosts, starring Lesley Manville as its tortured protagonist, will transfer to the West End next month.
Playing at the Trafalgar Studios from 17 December to 8 March, the production, which opened at the Islington venue in September where it will run until this weekend, charts the story of Helene Alving, a woman who has spent her life in an emotional void following the death of her cruel husband. Determined to escape the ghosts of her past, she tells her son Oswald the truth about his father, only to discover that he has already inherited the legacy of Captain Alving’s dissolute life.
Directed by former National Theatre Director and Olivier Award winner Eyre, who won an Evening Standard Theatre Award for his work on the production, Ghosts features a cast that also includes Jack Lowden, Brian McCardie and Charlene McKenna, all of whom will transfer with the production when it opens at the Whitehall venue. Will Keen, who played Pastor Manders at the Almeida, will be replaced by Adam Kotz for the West End run.
The hit drama, which is the second show to transfer from the acclaimed Islington venue this year following Lucy Kirkwood’s five-star hit Chimerica, which also won an Evening Standard Award, received a similar amount of critical acclaim when it premiered earlier this autumn, being described by The Telegraph’s Charles Spencer as “A production that does full justice to this thrilling, harrowing play,” with fellow Telegraph critic Tim Walker writing “Theatre seldom, if ever, comes greater than this.”
Marking the second play by the renowned Norwegian playwright to transfer to the West End this year, after A Doll’s House’s hugely successful run at the Duke of York’s theatre, Ghosts will open at the Trafalgar Studio 1 following Jamie Lloyd’s third Trafalgar Transformed production The Pride, which also comes to the end of its run this weekend.